Mindfulness Monday: Practicing Imperfection

Practice makes perfect, and Thomas Edison can attest to that. The story goes that Edison made 1,000 attempts before “perfecting” the first light bulb. Kudos to him and fortunate for the rest of us.

With all due respect, let’s be honest. The minute that bulb was invented, someone else was out there trying to improve it, if it wasn’t Edison himself. So while practice may make perfect, perfect can be improved. Just look at the LED light bulb.

Why then do we strive for perfection? Psychology 101 aside, for many of us it’s competition with ourselves. A desired to prove ourselves, well, to ourselves can be innate. There isn’t anything inherently wrong, provided we keep some context. Sometimes, we just need to be easy on ourselves.

In this edition of #MindfulnessMonday, XI Chief Culture Officer Betsy Brown introduces a concept called wabi sabi. Simply stated, wabi sabi is the Japanese art centered on the acceptance of imperfection. Betsy offers a quick lesson and an idea on how we can all practice imperfection.